US-led coalition and Afghan security forces killed nearly 60 militants during separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, the US military and a police official said on Tuesday. Violence has surged in the war-torn country with some 3,800 people, a third of them civilians, killed as a result of the conflict by the end of July this year, according to the United Nations.
US-led coalition and Afghan security forces killed 43 militants during heavy fighting in Qalat district of southern Zabul province on Sunday, the US military said in a statement on Tuesday.
"ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) and coalition forces on a patrol received heavy weapons, machine gun and sniper fire from militants in multiple locations," the US military said in a statement. The combined forces responded with small arms fire, rocket propelled grenades and close air support, killing the militants, it said.No Afghan or US-led troops were killed or wounded during incident, it said.
In a separate incident, Afghan and international troops killed 16 Taliban insurgents and wounded six more during a gun battle in Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province on Monday, provincial police chief Asadullah Sherzad told Reuters.